“He hates me at the moment and I understand why,” Elton told Matt Lauer on Today. “He sent me a message and he’s not happy and I understand that.”

“I’m sorry I had to say it, but I’m saying it because I really want Billy to live a long life and be very happy,” he said. “That’s all it came from. I understand why he’s pissed with me and I can take that on the chin.”

“I’m only trying to help,” he added. “Maybe I should have done it privately, but I’ve been so frustrated over the years.”

“But I do love him and I want to stress that,” Elton explained. “He may want to punch my face in at the moment, but it’s okay.”

And while Billy may have sent a private message saying “he’s not happy,” he released a different statement through his publicist via Rolling Stone.

“1. I do not hate Elton John
2. I do not want to “punch him in the face”
3. If he wants to call me, my number is still the same.
4. Good luck with the movie.
BILLY JOEL”

Billy previously responded to Elton’s comments also through his publicist saying, “I’ve enjoyed our relationship too much to let something as random as these comments change my affection for him,” Joel said in a statement last week. “Elton is just being Elton.”